Grammar and formatting
Grammar and formatting Double quotation marks Use for all directly reported speech, even if the source is not named. Single quotation marks *Place a quote within a quote *Report a word or phrase that is not one that we would choose to use ourselves *Indicate something you click Semi-colons *The semi-colon is frequently – mistakenly – used to mean ‘as follows’. This is the job of the colon or dash. *The semi-colon can be used to turn two closely related sentences into one. *The main use for this mark is to separate items in a list. Colons A colon may be used to introduce a quote or to introduce a list or an example. Otherwise, prefer to use a dash. Full stops *Full stops are not required after Mr or Ms, nor after etc, nor to punctuate ie and eg, nor after initials (WH Smith). Neither are they required in MP. *Do use them on walkthroughs and to mark the end of the last of a set of bullet points. *Don’t use them to complete a headline, strap, standfirst, pull quote or standard caption. Commas *A comma is not required after a house number in an address. *The only time one should be used is to separate two numbers. Flat 4, 7 Princes Buildings. *If you use a comma to introduce a parenthetic (explanatory) clause, then you must also use one to close it – exactly as if you were using brackets. Dashes The dash can be used instead of a colon, a semi-colon, a pair of brackets or even a pair of commas, but it should not be used indiscriminately. Once or twice in a paragraph is enough. Ellipses The three-dot ellipsis (…) is used to indicate that a word or words have been omitted from the text. In text we use the single-character ellipsis (keystroke alt and ; or option and ;) and it follows directly after the last word of continuous quote, with a space after it but not before. In display type, such as headlines, the ellipsis is not a single character but three separate full points, with no intervening spaces. Exclamation marks Use sparingly. Their only wholly legitimate use (except when quoting) is to mark the end of… er… an exclamation. Hanging, confused or disconnected participles If you use the inverted sentence structure of placing a subordinate clause at the start of the sentence, please be sure to have it relate to the subject of the verb. 'Having died while I was abroad, I had to throw out all of my house plants' is saying that the writer died, because ‘I’ comes straight after the comma, and is the subject of the sentence. That/which (relative clauses) Few things cause more trouble to writers (and sub-editors) than making the correct choice between ‘that’ and ‘which’ to open a relative clause, and then getting the punctuation right. That defines – 'I live in the house that Jack built (not those built by Tom or Dick).' Which explains – 'My house, which was built by Jack, is the one at the end.' In the second sentence, the relative clause doesn’t define my house (‘the one at the end’ does that); it just gives incidental extra information, which might as easily be parenthetic. Because of this, the ‘which’ type of clause requires commas (where the brackets would be). Tense of narrative The past tense should be used for historical reportage, particularly specific events, while the present tense should be used when representing someone’s continuing opinion or analysis. Who / whom The quick and dirty test on who and whom is to try directly substituting ‘who’ with ‘he’ / ‘him’ or ‘they’ / ‘them’, or to recast the sentence to accommodate this. If you find you need a ‘him’ or ‘them’, then the ‘m’ ending on those words is telling you to do the same with your ‘who’ and turn it into a ‘whom’. If ‘he’ or ‘they’, you need a simple ‘who’.